July.

July is going to be an awesome month. July is going to be a crazy month.

On July 1st, I fly from Detroit to Tokyo. non-stop. Then I meet up with my dad and fly to Taipei, Taiwan. From there we take the train to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We will be speaking at a week long youth camp (he's doing most of the speaking; I'm there to support, learn, and share a little). Then I fly back to Detroit and have a short visit with my family (who will be staying with family in Indiana).

5 days later I lead my youth group on a week-long misisons trip to Washington, DC to minister to a group of inner city kids.

I hope to share pictures and video of my adventures as well as many stories of the amazing things that God is going to do. But as you may have guessed, I'm going to be quite busy. If you don't see a post for a while, just keep praying that God would continue to speak to me and through me.

Don't Break the Ice

I had a chance to play "Don't Break the Ice" with Evan and Aaron tonight. What a ridiculous game. Who came up with the idea that this would be a great game for kids to play??


For those of you who aren't familiar, Don't Break the Ice is a game for kids where plastic white cubes are placed inside a plastic blue frame and the only thing that keeps the whole thing from collapsing is the pressure of each piece pushing against the others. The point of the game is to use a small plastic hammer to strategically knock out the proper blocks to not cause the platform to collapse on your turn but on that of your opponent. It's a bit like Jenga, but you don't but the blocks back on top. And you don't work together. OK, It's nothing like Jenga.

The problem is that kids don't understand the concept of strategically plotting your opponents downfall. They don't even get the idea that you should try to keep the blocks standing as long as possible. All they see is an opportunity to knock something apart in about 5 seconds. Did I mention it takes about 8 minutes to reset everything?

We had a great time, but they should really change the age rating to 12+.

Eight plus Kate with occasional guest cameos by Jon

Tonight marked a sad day in the history of the Gosselin Family. This hour long episode of TLC's prized reality show ended with Jon and Kate announcing their separation (with the closing credits confirming the legal filing for divorce). It was a really painful episode to watch. I kept hoping they would pull a switcheroo and edit the episode to create tension and end with a Jon and Kate announcing a recommitment to their relationship. But it wasn't so.

In a previous post, I've already shared my opinion that Jon and Kate would love their kids most by investing in their relationship. It just seems like they keep talking about how much they are "there" for their kids without realizing the pain and heartache that they are leading them though; without seeing the contradiction between the lessons that they are trying to teach and the their actions. Both Jon and Kate have issues to deal with in their individual lives and as a couple, but I think that Jon has more blame in the decay of this relationship.

He needs to grow up, act like a man, and take responsilbility for the committment that he made to Kate and to God to always love her, no matter what. Yes, Kate is hard on him. Yes, it must be ridiculously difficult to raise a family of 8 kids. Yes, the pressure of the papparazzi/media/and fans has got to be nearly overwhelming. But that's what being a man is all about; taking on the challenges that would seem to break us.

And as I was reminded in church on Sunday, you can't do it alone. You need other men. You need a supportive and encouraging wife. Above all, you need a powerful, loving, and relentless God. Let's pray we can learn from Jon and Kate.

Bloggin bout Blogs

My good friend Robbie just sent me a link to Stuff Christians Like.

It's a fantastic blog which humorously explores the often ridiculous world of American Christian culture. As often is the case, there is alot of truth and insight in these entries as well. We should take our journey with Christ seriously, but in a way that is intentional and persevering, not in a way that prevents us from being able to laugh at ourselves.

I've only read a fraction of the entries, but here are a few of my favourites so far:

#17- Unspoken Prayer Requests
#71- Calling Things Postmodern
#93- Riding on the Cool Van in Youth Group
#560- Writing Twitter Messages that sound 14% Holier than you usually are (can also be applied to facebook status updates)

God texts the ten commandments

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.

2. dnt wrshp pix/idols

3. no omg's

4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)

5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool

6. dnt kill ppl

7. :-X only w/ m8

8. dnt steal

9. dnt lie re: bf

10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.

ttyl, JHWH.

ps. wwjd?

(source)

Eye of the Tiger

I like to root for the underdog. It's something I picked up from my dad. Unless it's a team or individual that I closely follow, I'll almost always cheer for the little guy. That's why I want the Lakers to lose. That's why I don't like Lebron. But lately, there's one big dog (actually, a big cat) that I can't help but cheer for ... Tiger Woods.

As I said earlier, I picked up the habit of cheering for the underdog from my dad. He could never want Tiger to win. not once, ever; but I can't help but be amazed and inspired at Tiger's recovery following surgery last year.

For me it started last year when Tiger won the the U.S Open with one leg. One Good Leg. How bad was his other leg? He had season ending surgery on it 9 days after he won. And he was out of the game for nearly a year following the procedure. Now sure, it's not like he didn't pick up a golf club during that time, but for over 8 months he had no competition to compel him, no tournaments to keep him sharp. Despite that fact, he's won 2 of the 6 tournaments he's played in since he came back.

That's just ridiculous. Nobody should be coming back from major surgery at the top of their game. and I can't help but obsess about what is driving him to succeed. He didn't have to come back. What motivates the most dominant athlete in the world?

I don't know, but I'm sure it's not money. Like he could really use an extra $1 million... or $20 million. He could have had his surgery and then sailed the seven seas for the rest of his life, played video games all day, and never trained or dieted again. But he came back.

Maybe it's cementing his legacy, or his ego, or something else, but something drives Tiger Woods enough to bring him back day after day. I found this quote from him online:

“No matter how good you get you can always get better and that's the exciting part.”
(source)

You would think the exciting part for a guy like him is all the stuff he gets as a result of winning: Money, fame, anything. You would think the exciting part is being lauded as one of the best players of all time. But he says that the exciting part is getting better. Improving one detail at a time. Let me put it another way, the excitement is in the journey not the destination.

Now that's something worth thinking about. That's something worth trying. That's something you can cheer for.

It's alright 'cause...

Becky heard about this on TV today and although we didn't catch the original airing, the beauty of the internet means we're all able to catch gems like this anytime, anyplace. If you watched nbc on saturday mornings in the late 80's/early 90's you need to watch this:

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

I loved Saved by the Bell. But as big a fan as I was (am?), my sister Angela was (is!) a huge SBTB fan. I'm sure she knew those interview questions easily and with no studying would totally dominate in a Saved by the Bell trivia contest.

I hope Jimmy Fallon succeeds in the Bayside reunion. That's what I call Must See T.V.

Eh, Steve!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 may be a day for the history books.

Steve Weibe will make a live attempt at the Donkey Kong World Record.


Don't know who Steve Weibe is? Rent/download/watch the documentary "King of Kong: a fistful of quarters" (I'm watching it right now!). Steve is a regular guy, a middle school science teacher, who happens to be one of the top Donkey Kong players in the world. His rival is Billy Mitchell, a cocky, hot sauce mogul who has battled Steve for the DK world record over the past few years. I won't spoil the movie for you, because it really is worth watching.

This week is Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3), which is one of the largest video gaming conferences in the world. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and most of the third-party developers all make big announcments about upcoming new releases and unveil new games.

As part of the conference, Stride Gum has decided to offer Steve a chance to not only claim the record, but will reward him with $10,001 in quarters if he can beat the current top score of 1,050,200 (source).

I'm really rooting for him. He seems like a the kind of guy you'd like to be your friend.


Good luck Steve!